July 14, 2008
The Office of Community Relations accepted the Diamond Award for
blood drive success on behalf of St. John's University on June
7. The award, presented to St. John’s for the second-straight
year in recognition of the over 1,000 blood donations collected on
the Queens campus in 2007, was accepted by Kevin Ryan and Marge
Cashin at the annual reception at Terrace on the Park.
Additionally, St. John’s is the first organization to receive the
new NYBS award for greatest number of ALYX (automated red blood
cell) donations in 2007.
“St. John’s University has emerged as one of the leading donor
groups among colleges for New York Blood Center (from Sullivan
County, throughout New York City, Long Island and New Jersey),”
said Diana Zaferiou (’80 SJC), Director of Corporate &
Community Relations at New York Blood Center. “After setting
sights at a goal of 1,000 blood donations annually, St. John’s
blood drive results have surpassed that level. While
providing valuable life saving donations needed now, the University
is also building the future donor base. As an alumna of St.
John’s, there is an added sense of pride to see the great
accomplishments of this University on the blood donor front and all
of its academic and community initiatives.”
The top donors in the borough were recognized with awards at the
dinner, the highest of which is the Diamond. St. John's University
and the other 2008 Diamond Award winners (such as MetLife and the
NYC Department of Sanitation) edged out organizations as large as
the New York Mets, the Queens County Courts, the Masons of Queens
and the Long Island Railroad in number of donations.
“We are very proud of this award, because the need for blood is
so great and it shows how our students and staff live out the
Vincentian Mission,” said Vice President for Community Relations
Joseph Sciame. “Our Associate, Kevin Ryan, became the point person
for this project nearly three years ago and we’ve continued to
break records since then, thanks to the commitment of so many
donors on our campuses who literally give of themselves.”
That giving shows no sign of slowing in 2008 as the University’s
blood drive efforts were expanded to include the Oakdale and
Manhattan campuses and, together with Staten Island and Queens,
more than 700 pints have already been donated by St. John’s
students and employees in the 2008 calendar year.
The first-ever Music Saves Lives blood drives will take
place on the Staten Island campus on July 13 in the gymnasium and
on the Queens campus on July 15th in the University Storm
Center. St. John’s was chosen as a site for this drive, which
will also attract many young teenage donors from the community and
reward them with backstage passes to the Warped Tour
concert, due to its success over the past year. As well, STJ
students and staff are urged to donate in these special drives.
For information on Music Saves Lives and the Warped
Tour, visit http://musicsaveslives.org/.
For more information about the blood drives or other Office of
Community Relations events, call 718-990-1941 or visit www.stjohns.edu/community.